12 tales from behind the lens #5 The Ledbury

It’s day 5 of 12 tales from behind the lens at The Ledbury

I was very excited to be working with a beautiful publication, Art Culinaire Magazine from California. One of the chefs they were showcasing for issue #119 was Brett Graham, owner and chef of the 2 Michelin star, London restaurant, The Ledbury. This had been Mrs T’s absolute favourite restaurant since visiting a few years ago.

As well as taking pictures of the culinary artistry which was presented before me I also had to create an evoking portrait of Brett for the article. He’d been telling us about his love of game and that he did a lot of his own hunting. When he mentioned the 1st deer he’d shot was mounted in the stairway to the kitchen, it became clear where the shot would have to be taken.

It makes me smile and chuckle when I think of that a shot. Crawling around in a very narrow stairway, trying to get the right angle for the shot. I’m not known for my petite stature and ⅔ of my height is made up of legs. I’m like a 2 legged garden spider, a well-fed one at that. So I’m down on the floor, gangly legs going in all directions, like a pole dancer who’d crashed off the stage, trying to photograph one of London’s most renown and respected chefs.

We all had a good laugh at this as I say, I’m still chuckling now. These are the times that make what I do such a joy. I take my work very seriously without taking myself seriously. It’s a good job too because it has a pretty unflattering way to deal with ego.

This shot ran in issue #119 Art Culinaire Magazine and it’s one of my proudest moments. You can read more about my London trip with Art Culinaire in a previous post, just click the link.

2 Comments on “12 tales from behind the lens #5 The Ledbury”

There wasn’t any room or much time to set up lights. It was quite dark with some warm ambient light. I chose to simply bounce the light off the left wall, from a speedlite on camera. I think I used ETTL but I’m not certain. The walls were dark so the light bounce wasn’t hugely effective and some of the light will have spilled out towards the chefs. Here’s the post where I wrote about this. The Ledbury